Crytek is porting CryEngine to Linux

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Game developer Crytek isn’t just well known for its game, the company develops and licenses one of the best 3D game engines on the market. The latest version of that engine, CryEngine 3, supports development on Windows, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U. But it looks like Linux will soon be added to that line up.

A job listing has appeared on Crytek’s careers website for a Linux programmer who will be located at the company’s Frankfurt office. Confirmation that this is indeed an engine porting role comes from the first line of the listing, which states, “The CryENGINE team is looking for a Programmer to work on the Linux version of the 3d engine.”

CryEngine 3 is built to support multiple versions of DirectX, including version 9, 10, and 11. That’s not helpful for games distribution on Linux, so porting the engine is no small undertaking. It seems likely a team is already working on Linux support at Crytek, they just need an extra programmer due to the workload.

CryEngine supporting Linux is good news for gamers and also Valve. It should mean that games including the trio of Crysis games, MechWarrior Online, Monster Hunter Online, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, Ryse, Star Citizen, Warface, and many more titles get an easy pass on to the alternative OS, Steam, and eventually Steam Box. Depending on how backwards compatible the engine is, we may also see some earlier games such as the first two Far Cry titles joining that line-up.

It seems likely that any future engine development, for example the inevitable CryEngine 4, would support Linux upon release, meaning a much higher chance for more day one Linux game releases alongside the console and Windows versions.